Table Of ContentChild Soldier Victims of Genocidal
Forcible Transfer
.
Sonja C. Grover
Child Soldier Victims
of Genocidal Forcible
Transfer
Exonerating Child Soldiers Charged With
Grave Conflict-related International Crimes
SonjaC.Grover
LakeheadUniversity
FacultyofEducation
955OliverRoad
ThunderBay,OntarioP7B5E1
Canada
[email protected]
ISBN978-3-642-23613-6 e-ISBN978-3-642-23614-3
DOI10.1007/978-3-642-23614-3
SpringerHeidelbergDordrechtLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011944194
#Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2012
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.Allrightsarereserved,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis
concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,
reproductiononmicrofilmorinanyotherway,andstorageindatabanks.Duplicationofthispublication
orpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheGermanCopyrightLawofSeptember9,
1965,initscurrentversion,andpermissionforusemustalwaysbeobtainedfromSpringer.Violations
areliabletoprosecutionundertheGermanCopyrightLaw.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnotimply,
evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotective
lawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com)
This book is dedicated with great respect and
love to the memory of my parents
GinaandDavidGazanandthatofmybrother
Albert all of whom championed the cause
of universal human rights in their own way.
Itisalsodedicated toallvictims ofgenocidal
forcible transfer in whatever form and
especially to the child victims. This work is
but a small contribution made in the hope
that child victims of genocidal forcible trans-
fer (such as child soldiers recruited to
armed groups or forces perpetrating
mass atrocities and/or genocide and the chil-
dren born of mass wartime rape) will be
acknowledged as such, that the survivors
receive fair reparations from the State
and that the international community
implement effective ongoing strategies to
prevent all forms of genocide and other
grave international crimes.
.
Preface
Thecurrentinquirychallengesthedemonizationofandbacklashagainstacertain
segment of the child soldier population which seeks to frame these children as
culpableforatrocitiestheycommittedaschildmembersofnon-Statearmedgroups
orStatenationalforcescommittingsystematicmassatrocityand/orgenocide.Itis
argued that these children are the victims of genocidal forcible transfer to these
armedgroupsorforcesregardlessthemanneroftheirso-calledinitial‘recruitment.’
Various judicial and extra-judicial modes of accountability for these children are
assessed from this perspective and found to be irrelevant and inapplicable to the
factualcircumstancesofsuchcases.
In Chapter 1, State obligations under international law relating to the special
protected status of children during armed conflict are addressed as are children’s
participationrightsbalancedagainsttheirprotectionrights.Aviewofchildsoldier
members of armed groups or forces that consistently commit grave violations of
IHLasholdingthelegalstatusunderIHLofcivilian‘noncombatants’isdiscussed.
Theparticipationofthese children inmassatrocities and/orgenocideasmembers
of armed groups or forces systematically using such tactics is considered as a
quintessentialexampleof(tousetheinternationallabororganizationterminology)
the ‘worst forms ofchild labor’.1 The State’s burden to protect children from this
horrendousworstformofchildlaborisconsidered.
Chapter2includesanexaminationofthelegalimplicationsofthefailuretoset
auniversalminimumageofcriminalculpabilityfor,forinstance,theissueoffair
prosecutorial treatment of child soldiers charged with grave conflict-related inter-
national crimes. Also discussed is the lack of International Criminal Court (ICC)
jurisdiction over child soldiers (persons under age 18 at the time of their alleged
commission of war crimes, genocide and/or crimes against humanity)
as ‘substantive law’ rather than just a jurisdictional matter. It is argued that the
RomeStatutesetsoutastandardforthehumanetreatmentofchildsoldiersaccused
of conflict-related atrocity who are the victims of genocidal forcible transfer to
1InternationalLaborOrganization(2011).
vii
viii Preface
a murderous State force or non-State rebel armed group. In addition, a challenge
is advanced to the presumptions (currently being promulgated by some social
scientists and even certain legal scholars) that: (1) child soldiers who commit
conflict-relatedatrocitiesaspartofanarmedgrouporforcecommittingsystematic
mass atrocities and/or genocide had, in some if not most instances, the alleged
optiontoexercise‘tacticalagency’andresistcommittingtheseinternationalcrimes
and/or that (2) IHL requires that these children offer such resistance despite the
coercivecircumstancesinwhichtheyweresituatedasvictimsofgenocidalforcible
transfertothesearmedgroupsorforces.
Chapter3includesanexaminationofcaseexamplesofarmedforcesorgroups
thatarecommittingsystematicmassatrocitiesand/orgenocideandtheirso-called
‘recruitment’ of children for the purpose of the children’s active participation
(directly or indirectly) in these atrocities. It is argued that ‘recruitment’ under the
aforementioned circumstances amounts to ‘forcible transfer to another group’
(where ‘forcible transfer’ is not restricted to the use of physical force but can
include transfer basedonexploitationofcoercivecircumstances and/orthe useof
threatsofviolencetothechildorhisorherfamilyandotherformsofintimidation)
in violation of Article 2(e) of the Genocide Convention. Prevalent narrow, arbi-
trarilyrestrictedinterpretationsoftheGenocideConventionArticle2(e)areshown
to reflect an underestimation of: (1) the status of children as autonomous rights
bearers,andof(2)theadverseimpactoftheforcibletransferofchildrenfromtheir
grouptoanarmedgrouporforcecommittingmassatrocitiesand/orgenocideonthe
persistence/survival, vitality and mental and physical integrity of the children’s
groupoforigin(atleastasoriginallyconstituted)andofthechildgrouptransferred.
Chapter 4 examines the role of high profile international human rights gate
keepers of human rights claims and academic scholars in promoting the notion
that child soldiers who have committed conflict-related atrocities (as part of
amurderousnon-StatearmedgrouporStatenationalforce)arebestcharacterized
inalegalandpracticalsensenotsimplyasvictimsbutas‘perpetrators’or,atbest,
‘victim-perpetrators’.Thelatterattempttocharacterizethesechildrenascriminally
culpableisshowntobecontrarytothefactspointingtotheirbeingthevictimsof
genocidal forcible transfer to armed groups or forces engaged in mass atrocities
and/orgenocide.Parallelsaredrawnwiththesituationofchildrenbornofwartime
rape who also have not been adequately recognized under IHL and international
humanrightslawasanindependentseparatecategoryofpersonswhohavesuffered
gravehumanrightsviolationsasvictimsofgenocidalforcibletransfer.Thespecial
plight of girl child soldiers and their experience as victims of genocidal forcible
transfertothearmedgrouporforcecommittingmassatrocitiesand/orgenocideis
also discussed. The case of child soldier Omar Khadr as a victim of genocidal
forcible transfer to the Afghan Al Qaeda-linked Taliban is considered and his
prosecution for international crimes by the US analyzed from this perspective.
ICC cases involving persons who were, on the analysis here, the child victims of
genocidalforcibletransfertoarmedgroupscommittingheinousmassatrocitiesare
discussed(i.e.DominicOngwenandThomasKwoyelo;bothchildabducteesofthe
LRA who rose in the ranks to senior positions and committed conflict-related
Preface ix
atrocitiesbothaschildandasadultmembersoftheLRA).Theissueisraisedasto
whether these ICC defendants’ history as child abductees of the LRA ought be
consideredasamitigatingfactorataminimuminthesentencingphaseofanICC
trial(iftheyareconvictedinregardstothegraveinternationalcrimestheyallegedly
committedasadultmembersoftheLRA).
Chapter 5 examines Truth and Reconciliation processes in Sierra Leone and
Liberiainraisingtheissueofwhethersuchmechanismsareasuitablealternativeto
criminal prosecutions for holding child soldiers accountable for conflict-related
graveinternationalcrimesallegedlycommittedaschildren(asisclaimedbymost
of those who hold these children are culpable and had ‘tactical agency’ to resist
committing conflict-related atrocities as members of armed groups or forces
engagedinperpetrating systematicmassatrocitiesand/orgenocide).Theproposi-
tion that: (1) child soldiers are culpable who have engaged in conflict-related
atrocitiesaschildmembersofarmedgroupsornationalforcesthatusesuchtactics
againstciviliansasamatterofcourseandthat(2)theseindividualsshouldprovide
anarrationoftheirallegedoffensesbeforeaTruthandReconciliationCommission
are both challenged. The latter propositions are found to be inconsistent with the
properadministrationofjustice.ThefactthatTruthandReconciliationmechanisms
areoftentimesnon-therapeuticandevencounter-productivefortheexchildsoldier
population accused of conflict-related atrocities and for the local communities
involvedisdiscussed.
Chapter6presentsconcludingremarksregarding:(1)theongoingoccurrencein
variousconflict-affectedregionsofgenocidalforcibletransferofchildrentoarmed
groupsorforcescommittingsystematicmassatrocitiesand/orgenocideand(2)the
failure oftheinternationalcommunitytorecognizethephenomenonofchildren’s
‘recruitment’intoarmedgroupscommittingsystematicatrocitiesasawartacticas
aformofgenocidalforcibletransferofchildrentoanothergroup.Thepointismade
thatjusticedemandsthat:(1)childrenwhohavesufferedthisformofgenocidebe
regardedasthevictimstheyare;and(2)itbeacknowledgedthattheconflict-related
atrocities they may have committed as children were carried out under coercive
circumstances which preclude their criminal liability or responsibility on any
account.Rather,itisargued,theStateandtheinternationalcommunitymustbear
the full burden of responsibility for these child-perpetrated conflict-related atro-
cities as a result of their failure to protect this most vulnerable population from
genocidalforcibletransfer.
ThunderBay,ON,Canada SonjaGrover
